Run for Justice
by TheZorker
Summary: Sixteen people. Heroes. Brought to a world that is not their own. But for what purpose? Who are these men in black that pursue them? If they seek to help others, they must first... Run For Justice
1. Prologue: Run for your Life

Prologue: Just Run

In the control room, the figure considered the most recent results of his search, and the probabilities the computer had generated. The scenario was ready, he just needed a new group of players. As it was longer scenario, he needed just the right people.

Batman – Bruce Wayne – Odds: 5 to 2

Black Widow – Natasha Romanov – 7 to 2

Black Canary – Dinah Drake – Odds: 7 to 1

Catwoman – Selena Kyle – Odds: 4 to 1

Cyclops – Scott Summers – Odds: 7 to 2

Emma Frost – Emma Frost – Odds: 8 to 1

Flash, The – Barry Allen – Odds: 1 to 30 in favor.

The figure stared at that one for some time. He put a few different variables. But the odds never reduced past 1 to 20 in favor. He sighed, and was forced to cross off the name.

Green Arrow – Oliver Queen: Odds: 6 to 1

Green Lantern, The – John Stewart: Odds: 5 to 1

Iron Man – Tony Stark: Odds 7 to 2

Lois Lane – Lois Lane – Odds: 6 to 1

Magneto – Erik Lehnshrr (Max Eisenhardt) – Odds: 9 to 2

Nick Fury – Nick Fury – Odds: 4 to 1

Steve Trevor – Steve Trevor – Odds: 15 to 1

He grimaced, looked again, and deleted the entry.

Storm – Orono Munroe – Odds: 6 to 1

Superman – Clark Kent – Odds: 1 to 1

He paused again, and typed quickly on the computer.

Superman – Clark Kent – Odds: 5 to 1

He nodded and moved on.

Tigra – Greer Nelson – Odds: 4 to 1

Wonder Woman – Diana – Odds: 4 to 1

He considered the list. It was balanced, it had its charmers. There was nothing to overbalance too much.

He sent it. After a few minutes, a ding notified him the list was confirmed. The list had been reset into a random order. He slid the screen to the left, and waited for the players to be brought in.

* * *

Pregame

Lois felt like she was going to be sick. It had been a Saturday, she had been working at the Daily Planet to finish an editorial due on Monday (damn that Clark for starting a Blog). She'd felt sick, closed her eyes for just a moment...

Just a moment for her not to be in Kansas any more.

She was standing under a green sky, surrounded by fifteen of the most electic group of people imaginable. Some she recognized, Superman, just to her right. Princess Diana of Themyscira, in her Wonder Woman costume, was on the other side. Others she didn't, a black bald man with an eyepatch and a black leather jacket across the mat. A cat-girl wearing nothing more than a purple bikini, looking like someone straight out of, what had it been called? Lunacon? That Perry had insisted she cover?

"Where are we?" asked a man dressed in a black jumper, wearing a pair of ruby red glasses. "I refuse to go to Murderworld again. That's too much."

"It's not time for Myxlplyk," Superman observed, looking up at the green sky in disgust. "Can't be him."

Batman was also there, looking as cold and calculating as always. It felt weird to see him in the daylight.

"Wherever it is, I don't like it," a woman dressed in all white said. "I'm ready to, ouch!" She'd reached out to grab and climb over a chain that was blocking their exit from a large yellow mat.

"Those are people in there," said the authoritative voice of Green Lantern. He was pointing.

Everyone turned and stared. Lois had the chance to gather her thoughts. They were standing on a large yellow mat, surrounded on three sides by an apparently electrical chain. There was a, Lois was tempted to call it a carpet, down to what appeared to be a small podium. On the other side of the podium, a large box, containing what appeared to be three human males, though she could only see their faces. Even their faces were obscured with dark sunglasses.

All around of them were absolutely enormous trees – they'd put the California Redwoods to shame. In fact, looking up at them, she thought she could see structures built in them, like in a Tolkien novel.

"Why is it that I'm the only one that didn't get to come in costume?" a middle aged man, wearing a Black Sabbath T-Shirt, "I mean, Cyclops is here, Fury gets his signature jacket, we've got Robin Hood, but do I get anything resembling my armor? Of course not." he looked around, and his eyes lighed on Diana. "Of course, maybe that's..."

"That's enough," Diana said, in a firm voice.

The man raised an a eyebrow and a slow smile spread across the face.

The bald black man rolled his single visible eye, and slapped the other man in the back. "That's enough, Tony."

"I'm not on the clock, Fury. I can do what I want."

Fury sighed.

Tony turned her eyes on the other people in the group, his eyes lighting on Selena Kyle, who was wearing her catsuit.

"What's going on here, anyway?" asked a red haired woman.

Lois stuck her hands in her pockets, and let out a note of surprise. They had been empty. She pulled out what appeared to be a map, and a cell phone. The map showed three levels, one apparently underground, one on ground level, and one clearly in the trees. There were even marked spots, showing where to get between levels.

The phone buzzed in her hand.

There were small noises of surprise coming from everywhere. Apparently, everyone had found a phone somewhere on them.

Lois wondered where Wonder Woman had found hers.

After a few moments, a movie played. It started with what appeared to be a group of people, standing on the mat, and a single person standing near the podium. The camera focused on that one person.

"Opening Challenge," came the computer like voice, coming from the phone in English, "Call your time. Then press start."

She heard a gasp, it sounded like it came from Superman.

It focused on the boxes. There was a clock, counting upward in seconds, just above the box.

"When correct time has elapsed, press stop. If stopped within a second over your time called, your time will add to your head start. If five players find success, then your head start begins. Otherwise the game begins. Try to escape the hunters. You won't help anyone caught this early." The picture, tagged with a "12!" showed a time of 11.50. Then three black figures were shown running toward the mat, the others running away.

"That was in Kryptonian," Superman said, softly. "Not quite the right grammar... but Kryptonian."

"Russian?" mumbled the red haired woman. "Well, why not?"

Her phone buzzed again. Pictures of the people standing around her flashed in rabid succession, before slowing down and stopping on... her own face.

Everyone stared at her. Lois felt very small of a sudden.

"Well. No one has tried to kill us yet," Superman said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"I can't even see what's providing us light, Superman," Lois whispered.

"Red sun," he said, sighing. "We'll be OK, I promise."

Lois squared her shoulders, and began to walk toward the podium.

"Call a time you feel comfortable with," advised Green Arrow.

The clock was above the cages. The men inside were not breathing. Their heads turned as one to focus on her.

Damn, it was creepy.

Lois swallowed. "Eight seconds!" She called into the open air, then pushed the button. The clock started, then a slide covered it up. After she believed eight seconds had passed.. plus just a moment.. she pressed the button again.

She glanced up at the covered clock, then back at the group. They'd crowded towards the chain, staring at her tensely.

The slider slid back down. "8.782s" Eight red lights appeared above the cages.

Lois released her breath.

"Well. Good?" she said, still bemused. Nothing happened after a moment or two, so she walked back to the group.

The phone buzzed again. Lois pulled hers back out. Another roulette of pictures blinked before her, this time it settled on the slightly fuzzy face of the man in the Iron Maiden t-shirt.

He walked out towards the podium, his fist in the air, turning back and smiling at the group.

He called ten, and several seconds later, stopped the clock again. Lois was of the opinion he got it right. He was already walking back; no swaggering back to the group when the clock confirmed it.

There were now eighteen total marks.

A third time the roulette of pictures. This time it stopped on Batman. Well, Lois assumed it was Batman. All she could see was the cowl, his eyes (and not his pupils), and his chin.

With a swish of his cape, he walked forward toward the podium, cutting an almost disturbingly bizarre image. "Haven't you ever seen the Incredibles?" asked Tony. "No capes!"

"Thirty." His voice was calm and direct, same as it always was. The gasps issued from everyone else, on the other hand. Batman stood stock still for those thirty seconds. Lois could see the faces of the three trapped men focused on him. Lois felt she'd lost track somewhere after thirteen seconds. But... this was Batman. The people she didn't recognize were clearly more nervous. They were crowding to the back. Without a word, Batman pressed the button again.

After a moment, the slider came down. "30.500"

"Alright, I'm impressed," Tony said, grudgingly. Fury nodded at him.

A fourth roulette. It landed on... the man with the slicked back brown hair and red tinted sunglasses. He shrugged, and made his way out to the podium.

"Good luck, Scott," said the woman in white.

He had called ten. Lois didn't watch him. She watched Batman. Which meant she was the second one to know that he had missed the window.

"What?" Scott demanded.

The slider moved up, revealing 11.273.

The chains dropped, and a majority of the people began to run. A noise like a steam valve sounded. Then Lois could hear footsteps, followed by a massive explosion. She simply took off, adrenaline powering her legs. When she looked around, she didn't see anyone. The group must have scattered.

There was a cave ahead and to her right, leading to the lower level shown on the map. She'd hide down there.

The front of her phone had begun to display a countdown: 119:33... 32... 31. She found the cave, was relived to find it lit with lanterns, double checked her map, and proceeded down.

After the first minute had passed, her phone buzzed again. It showed the starting location. The three men in the cages had been true men in black. Black ties, black suits, visible earpieces, the whole costume. The gentleman hadn't run like most of them had. He had lifted his sunglasses, and nothing less than lasers shot out of his eyes, towards the three men in black. There was an explosion, smoke, but they continued to run through it. One of them had reached out and gripped the man on his shoulder. The hand holding his sunglasses up went slack, and he simply slumped to the ground. He was clearly still breathing, but knocked out. The man in black that had tagged him, carefully put his sunglasses back on, picked him up effortlessly, and took him off screen.

The other two looked around, their heads moving robotically. Not seeing anyone else, they stalked off in different directions.

118:59, 15 remain.


	2. Chapter 1: Run for Help

Chapter 1: Run for Help

119:00  
15 players remaining.

Emma couldn't feel the presence of most of the others any more. This annoyed her. She'd felt them when they had all been on the starting block – for lack of a better term, but she could not feel them here. Not even Erik, her one time confidant.

She had not felt those men in black. They were mindless. Probably some kind of robot.

She was in sight of a large ramp heading up into one of the trees before the phone's noise interrupted her run. Next to her, an African-American released his breath. They both looked and the video, then at each other.

"What are those things?" Emma asked. "They're not sentinels."

"What's a sentinel?" The man's voice had a crisp military tone to it. He sounded not unlike Fury. "I was going to say it wasn't quite a manhunter." He looked her over, appearing slightly disapproving. "Jon Stewart, Green Lantern Corps." So that's what the logo on his chest meant.

"Emma Frost," she told him. "Hm. Surprisingly, this phone acts like... a phone. There's a list of the other people here."

Jon took a look himself. "Who's 'Cy...' oh. Got it." Cyclops's name had been greyed out. He snapped the phone shut. "We should keep moving," he told her. "Those things are behind us for now, but who knows for how long?

Emma had already placed a call, glanced behind her again, "Erik? Emma. Did you recognize those things?"

Jon had started jogging up the ramp, Emma hurried to keep up.

"No. They're not metallic," Magneto told her. "Where are you? And why are you using a phone, of all things? I promise you, I do not have my helmet."

"I can't feel you. Something about the distance here is throwing me."

"Understood. I hear..." the phone clicked off.

"Are you coming?" asked Jon.

Emma had to jog to keep up with him.

To her surprise, there was an entire town up the ramp. Buildings built out from the trunks, smaller houses on enormous branches. People were openly staring at both of them. Jon's green uniform stood out like a sore thumb. Emma's liberal costume were attracting just as many surprised eyeballs.

Terrific.

* * *

Magneto was running. He _hated_ running. But he'd spotted the glint of sunlight on black sunglasses behind him. And from the rapid footsteps, he'd been spotted too. His metal armor, thankfully, didn't clank, thanks to his magnetism power, but it wasn't working powerfully enough to let him fly.

Thus: Running.

He was near the ramp to something the map called 'Star Grund'. Running one half loop around the large tree, he wait until he could tell he was out of line of sight and jumped. He still had enough control of magnetism that he landed lightly on the ground.

That the gravity here was much lighter than Earth's helped.

He heard his pursuer continuing to 'chase' him up the tree. He pressed himself against the trunk and waited for the footsteps to recede.

They instead stopped outright, remained paused for a few moments, then reduced to walking pace. It was continuing up.

Magneto picked a path and walked calmly away.

* * *

Dinah and Oliver walked along the pathways of Silk Grund. "It's actually kind of peaceful, Oliver," she told him. "You think you'd be able to live in a tree like this?"

Green Arrow gave a visible wince. "I already have Flash calling me Legolas. I really don't want to give him any more ammunition. Besides, we should be figuring out how to get home."

Dinah grinned at him. She nodded to the young girl staring up at her. She knelt down beside her and introduced herself.

The girl blushed at the attention, and backed away.

Dinah looked at Oliver and shrugged.

* * *

Nick had taken to the caves. Saying they were lit by lamps wasn't accurate. They were filled with something that appeared to be honey, and had attracted some kind luminescent moth.

He was already upset. Someone had forcibly kidnapped him to some godforsaken place, hunting him with god only knew what, and the Raft was probably being broken out of again.

Alright. That last one was a guess, but he was betting on it. He couldn't remember if Magneto had actually been imprisoned in the Raft before seeing him here, after all.

The entrance he'd used was also a bit on the strange side. It was a short ladder, right between two large roots of the giant trees. It had been circled with some sort of flower petals, like it was important in some way.

The caverns themselves appeared to be natural, if deep. They showed signs of human habitation at one point, though they were clearly empty now. Curious.

He would continue investigating – but he was no closer now to why they'd come here. Or more importantly, how to leave.

He also had the damnedest feeling he was being watched, but couldn't spot anything particular.

* * *

The chairman looked up from the screen labeled 'Nick Fury'. Six minutes had passed since his hunters had been release. He turned to examine the screens. The scenario called for... there they were. One up near the top of Sky Grund, holding on to a small branch. A second in the caves appearing lost. A third, near the ground of Star Grund.

He cycled through the menus. Objectives, check. Result: Additional hunters. Time allowed: Fifteen minutes. Initiate.

This would be the easiest mission, so he'd bet on completion. He glanced at a third set of screens. It looked like they'd be a winner either way.

* * *

Tigra had always had a small belt for the carrying of a smart phone.

That was her story and she was sticking to it.

Which is where it was resting when it beeped, alerting her to a message. It was another video.

"Mission 1?" she asked nobody in particular, and kept reading."Warning: Dangerous situations have been detected in your area." A map overlay popped up, showing two markers and one large zone in the caves with a question mark over it. "Failure to complete any step of this mission will result in increased difficulty."

There were now two timers, the longer countdown, and one coming down from 14:45. Well. Increased Difficulty sounded bad, no matter what was going on. She was already on Sky Grund, having run to the far edges of the map after Cyclops had failed to blow anything up.

So she had to go further up. This was done by a series of ladders (the ramps going away about the the three quarters mark) hooked the tree itself and a series of smaller branches. At the top...

At the top was a child. A human child, holding onto the top of the tree for dear life.

Tigra gave an audible groan. Whatever intelligence had brought them had an _awful_ sense of humor. "In Soviet Russia, cat saves kid from tree," she grumbled. "And I'm older than that joke," she added, in case anyone was actually listening.

Thankfully, she didn't have to jump the last few branches, anyone else probably would have. Claws made for excellent climbing spikes.

"Hey, it's alright," she told him, speaking kitten soft to him. "I can get you down."

He barely looked at her, let alone let go from the tree. "My shuba is ripped. I... I can't get down."

"Shuba?" Tigra asked, blankly.

He did turn to look at her then, and recoiled briefly from shock of her appearance. "My shuba," he said, raising an arm. It looked like a body suit, or at lease a tightly fitting shirt, with a built in membrane resembling a bat's wing extention. Patagia! That was it. His shuba, however, was clearly violently ripped, like someone had taken a knife to it. "I'll fall."

"Nonsense, just hold onto me... haven't you ever seen a cat climb before?"

"What's a cat?" he asked.

That startled Tigra into a moments worth of silence, but even after she regained her composure, she simply couldn't get the boy down.

"You've got to be kidding me," called a voice from down below. "Of all the cliches..."

She looked down. There was the man in blue spandex with the ostentatious 'S' logo. She remembered him from when she awoke in this weird place.

She leaned back, balanced easily on the branch, so that the stranger could see the kid. "He says his s_huba_ is ripped and he's too scared that he'll fall."

"Ask him where we can get one, then!"

That was boring, but practical. "Where can we get you a shuba?" she asked the child.

"Silk... Silk Grund. That's where they're kept. If you tell them that Berek needs a new shuba..."

Tigra relayed this information.

"Stay with him," the man said, looking at the map, and tapping it. "I'll be back with that Shuba before you know it."

That was easy for him to say. She was a sitting duck if one of those seekers came along.

* * *

"Increased difficulty?" asked Nick. He was fond of keeping things simple. He also was starting to have particular misgivings as to exactly what was going on here. Arcade might yet turn up, and this whole thing could turn deadly.

But he was in the area. He'd keep an eye out. He only had the one to spare.

The area of the caves he'd reached were larger and more maze like. They were not quite a series of twisty little passages, all alike, but even with a map, it would be easy to get lost down here.

He saw movement out of his eye and turned, focusing on what appeared to be a spot of wall. No. Not a spot of wall. "Come on out big guy," Nick drawled. "I can see you."

"With one eye, you see better than most people with two," said Batman. At least, who else would wear a black suit with a bat logo on it? Nick had studied the list of names. He'd recognized half of them. Batman had been in the other half.

Nick snorted. "I notice everything, Batman."

"I'm sure you do, Mr. Fury."

Now it was Nick's turn to be impressed. He didn't show it, though. "Are you looking for the mystery 'Dangerous situation' down here?"

"I'm trying to figure out how we got here."

"By waiting down here in the dark?" Fury asked.

"I'm running tests. Gravity is 62% less than normal, yet we have a rainforest binome. There's a red sun, but a green sky. Not to mention human like figures, not including the chasers. I am trying to figure out where here is first."

Nick nodded. "Makes sense. Do you think a place like this could actually exist?"

"The possibility we are on some sort of Holodeck had occurred to me."

Nick considered him. "Alright. If you can figure out anything else, or need any help, call me. Or call T- Iron Man. He's insufferable, but a genius. He might be able to figure something out."

Batman considered him for a moment, then nodded. "I'll keep an eye out for any of the seekers if you want to keep looking. Lois and Catwoman are already looking."

Nick nodded, and headed off.

* * *

Storm walked along the path. She was staying away from the marker, convinced it was some sort of trap. Something was keeping her grounded, she wasn't able to get enough air around her to get elevated. As she circled around the large tree labeled as Grand Grund she came face to face with one of the men in black. They both reacted instantly. Storm took off, the hunter in pursuit.

It had been a blind corner, and that thing was faster.

She felt the hand scrape her shoulder, and she felt all of her energy just drain out of her.

108:47  
Storm Captured.  
14 Players remaining.


	3. Chapter 2: Run for Containment

Chapter 2: Run for Containment

108:45 – 14 Players remaining

Tony's phone beeped at him. "Great," he mumbled. "Mail?" Not mail, a video. Showing the capturing of the X-Man Storm. "X-Men out. They didn't last long," observed Tony. Those things were _fast_.

He had been heading toward the marker on the surface. He kept glancing behind him, unsure if he'd hear the hunter's footsteps on the soft grass. It was enough to make one paranoid. So, when he did see movement and hear steps in front of him, he felt he had to be cautious.

He knelt down, and crept forward, ready to go flat at a moment's notice if he saw the familiar black suit of the hunters. They were paranoia inducing, but he had to admit that they were snappy dressers.

He continued to creep forward. The footsteps in front of him were purposeful, but slow, and as soon as he looked around this grund, he'd get a good look at whoever it was.

He had to fight back the urge to let out a whistle. It was the raven haired woman that was wearing the United States Flag as a one piece bathing suit, and she was going somewhere, rather purposefully.

Probably the same place he was. "Hey!" He called, jogging quickly to catch up with her. "Going to the 'Dangerous Situation'?" he asked.

She looked around, give him a quick, nasty look and turned back. "Yes," she said simply. "And don't try it. I've met your type before,"

"Hey!" protested Tony. "How do you know..."

She shot him down with a glare. Then turned back. "We're almost there. Child."

"I'm not... oh. OH!" They broke into a jog.

There was a girl lying on the ground, crying.

"What happened, young one?" the woman asked.

"Fell. My shuba caught on a branch and ripped," the girl told them, "I think my leg's broken."

"How can we help?" Tony asked.

"Take me home?" she asked. "I live on the second level of Broad Grund." She pointed up.

The woman nodded. She effortlessly, and gently, lifted the girl into her arms, and began to walk in the general direction of Broad Grund's ramp.

Tony was impressed, she was either a lot stronger, or the girl a lot lighter, than they looked. Tony ran to get in front of her.

The woman's voice softened, just a bit. "Going to look out for the chasers?"

"Sentinels. Hunters maybe. Those things aren't chasers. A chaser would remind me of you."

* * *

Selena was vaguely annoyed. Bruce might like caves, especially dank, poorly lit caves like this one, but she preferred her luxuries. Somewhere in this area of the cave there was a "dangerous situation". She'd already seen Lois, and an African-American with an eye patch. She thought someone would have found whatever dangerous situation was down here.

She pulled out her map. If she was going to hide something down here, and she hadn't found it yet, she'd probably guess it was in a dead end. Or a secret door. She struck that thought. She was spending too much time with Bruce.

_Or if it was mobile._

She changed tactics, moving to the center of the marked area. The dark air stank of mold. She paused. She could hear heavy footsteps – probably the one-eyed man. If she hadn't actually stopped to focus, she wouldn't have heard the soft crying echoing through the cave. She took a moment to home in on the noise, then headed confidently down a side tunnel.

Selena was nonplussed, if not really surprised, when she found a young boy wandering around in the dark, crying. "Hey, hey, it's alright. You lost?"

He looked up at her in surprise, and nodded. She held out her hand. "I have a map. I'll get you out of here."

He grabbed hold with a small, wan smile on his face.

* * *

He crossed the bridge toward the next grund. It was two huge branches that looked like they could have been touching. He wondered, aloud, if they'd had some way to make the trees look that way.

Much like Silk Grund, there were plenty of people out on Grand Grund, all wearing bright colors, all looking reasonably cheerful. The sound of conversation filling he air as he jogged.

It made the sound of shouting, and the flash of black fabric all the more noticeable. He took off, running straight away from the hunter. He kept it up longer than a lot of people probably could have, crossing towards the final bridge towards Sky Grund.

However, as Clark was aware, he never actually shook his pursuer.

He dropped the package as the hand clamped on his shoulder, and he slumped to the ground.

103:38

_13 Players remaining_

* * *

The cell phone in Tigra's belt pouch beeped. She had been sitting in this tree long enough she was beginning to lose feeling in her legs.

She saw the video and bit her tongue to keep herself from swearing in front of a child. Then she quickly started climbing down toward the largest branch. She only had four minutes. She had to hope she was right about where he fell.

* * *

Diana knocked on the door the child indicated, Tony was still keeping an eye out.

The door opened, revealing a woman that looked absolutely distraught to see them.

"That solves," Tony started. "Wait, what's that silver box?"

Diana noted the human sized box, ducked her head to enter the home, walked into the back, and laid the wounded girl on her bed. Her mother pushed a small token in to Diana's hand. She glanced at it, then put into her belt pouch.

Diana was many things, but a doctor was not one of them, there was almost nothing else to do here. Almost. There was another box here, similar to the one they'd seen almost twenty minutes ago. The box contained another of the men-in-black. The head turned to track her movements, but otherwise he did not move. This box had one thing the other boxes lacked, an outside bar to lock it.

She pulled the bar down.

"I'll bet that means there's two other boxes somewhere, and in about," he checked his phone's clock. "Three and a half minutes, they're going to open."

Diana pulled the home's door closed behind her. "Just one of those things is a nightmare. Clark's a strong runner, and they caught him." She pulled out her own phone, and dialed Bruce. "Bruce? Diana. There's more of these things around."

"Diana, they seem to be androids. They have excellent sight, and simply don't give up. I was watching Clark's run. If you're spotted, don't try to outrun them. Break their line of sight by diving behind trees or buildings, then run. If they can't spot you, I'd bet they'll return to their patrols."

* * *

Selana, having a deep breath of fresh air, jogged behind the young man she'd rescued from the cave. He brought her to a small collection of buildings under Trade Grund. He let himself in, inviting Selena in.

She followed him in, surreptitiously locking the chaser box as she passed it.

"Thanks," He told her, "Here, it's not much, but take this." He pressed a token into her hand. "I'm sure you'll find a use to it."

"Uhm? Thanks?"

* * *

Tigra hopped down, looking rapidly. There was no sign of the hunter. She grabbed the package containing the shuba, and rapidly retraced her steps towards the top of Sky Grund. There were two and a half minutes on the clock, and two and a half minutes went absolutely nowhere.

It was NOT plenty of time.

She jumped onto the ladder, expertly grabbing it half way up, climbing hand over hand. Then it was up the tree.

Two minutes.

She struggled to get the new Shuba on over the old one. Then, to her astonishment and surprise, he jumped off the tree, floating in the lighter gravity and what must have been hollow bones. She followed him down the hard way.

One minute. This was supposed to diffuse a dangerous situation, right? She had done that, right?

They landed on one of the larger branches, and she followed him to a house. "Pomma? Pomma? I'm back!"

There was the signs of a struggle, the living room they were in had been ransacked. The only thing that looked remotely organized was the box.

Holy crap. The box with a hunter inside! Tigra slammed the bar closed with about thirty seconds left on the clock.

"Please? Where's Pomma? Can you help me find her?"

Had he not noticed the box? At all?

* * *

"You alright, sir?" Cyclops asked. "We got the alert you'd been captured. I thought you were going to..."

"Please Scott, that pun was bad enough the first time," Storm told him.

"Make a narrow S cape."

Storm groaned.

"Where are we?" Superman asked.

Cyclops sized him up. Actually, they looked a lot alike, they were both powerfully built men with a penchant for blue spandex. "Some sort of prison. That's Trade Grund, if my map is any indication, and there's the village on the far side. Not that information helps any. Only the android's hand print opened the door."

Their phones beeped.

"Mission Clear?" Superman asked.

* * *

The gamemaster grinned slightly to himself. One of the more interesting first missions. He suppose it would have been bad if the box had opened in Tigra's face, the bettors would have been furious. He looked up to the game monitors. She'd found the hint. If she had her wits, she might get a head start on their next task.

Then there was the Bat... making calls like there was no tomorrow. He'd figured out the hunters. No problem there. Knowing the adversary didn't make it easier to escape from them, in general.

98:00... 97:59... 97:58


End file.
